Cold War Dbq

In the late 1940’s, the United States and Soviet Union had become locked in a Cold War. For about forty-three years, although no war between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union was ever officially declared, the leaders of the democratic West and the Communist East faced off against each other. The war was a dreadful time for both sides, keeping all citizens on edge. Many major events in global history including the rise of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis were related to the Cold War. There were many fears of the Cold War that the American people feared in the aftermath of the Second World War (Doc. A). The American people feared the Soviet for two reasons. One reason was why the American people feared the Soviet was because the Soviet had nuclear bombs. The other reason was that the Soviet was the first to put up an orbiting satellite, which was Sputnik. However, the American people greatest fear was communism (Doc B.). Communist influence spread to China as well as Eastern Europe, and soon made is way to Cuba. From this advantage point, the U.S.S.R. started exporting nuclear missiles and this was the last straw for the United States. In an address by John Foster Dulles, he spoke of this issue and seemed to reinstate the Monroe Doctrine while yielding the “big stick” formerly carried by Teddy Roosevelt in the Caribbean (Doc. B). This began our new “roll-back” policy which would involve the U.S. attempting to fight communism aggressively. With the Inauguration of J.F.K. in 1961, the United States further requested help from other free powers to protect liberty throughout the world (Doc. I). This reflects our former NATO alliance in Europe to keep communism out.
Eisenhower’s next attempts to supress the American fears would be to boost the amount of nuclear power we as a nation maintained. In a message to Congress, Eisenhower attempted to boost the education of the American youth (Doc. G). Eisenhower, at that time, was like